"In extreme cases, sovereign citizens forgo financial schemes and become violent when confronted by cops. In the past decade, seven killings of law enforcement officers have been blamed on sovereign citizens.

Adherents of the movement believe the U.S. government creates a secret identity for each citizen at birth that controls a clandestine U.S. Treasury account totaling up to $20 million, which is used as collateral for foreign debt. And by filing enough bogus legal documents, including fake liens and false foreclosure notices, sovereign citizens believe they can game the system, ultimately eliminating personal debt or defrauding corporations.

“The reason that this particular segment of the movement has grown so rapidly it because it essentially promises them something for nothing,” Potok told FoxNews.com. “I think that’s a big piece of it — simple greed mixed with a healthy dose of conspiracy theory with no basis in reality.”